The Philadelphia Phillies have been working to make inroads into the Japanese player free agent market for a while now. They just got a massive boost to their chances of signing their first player straight out of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league after some recent comments by right-hander Tatsuya Imai.
After multiple failed attempts over the past few offseasons, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2023, the Phillies will be in on the posted Japanese players again this winter. That reportedly includes the 27-year-old Imai, who was officially posted on Nov. 18, per MLB.